Cobalt Masquerade And Star Struck's Tour Of Chaos

Cobalt Masquerade And Star Struck’s Tour Of Chaos

Chapter 3

Freaking Out

By Cobalt Masquerade

It had been about 3 hours since the bus had left Canterlot, and so far, nothing much had changed since takeoff. Cobalt Masquerade and Star Struck had been chatting at the table, discussing all of the things that had happened to them during their time apart. Six String had been sleeping the entire ride, so far. Octavia was furiously practicing her bass in the isolation room. And finally, Dumb Bell had just been snacking around, trying his best not to break anything.

Cobalt had just began to talk about the crazy stuff Discord had done on last year’s tour when Star Struck felt something furry brush up against her leg.

“Did you just rub your leg against mine or something?” she asked Cobalt.

Cobalt looked at Star Struck with genuine confusion and replied, “No. Why?”

“Because I just felt something furry rub against my leg.”

Cobalt just stared at her confusedly, then looked under the table. “Oh, that’s just Knuckles,” he said with a laugh. “I like to bring him on tour with us so he doesn’t get lonely at home. Come on out sleepy head!”

“Knuckles?” Star asked.

“Yeah, he’s my pet boxer,” Cobalt said as a sizable dog made its way out from under the table. It had a very large head, a light brown coat, and a large white patch of fur on its chest. It also had white fur color on its feet. “You like dogs?”

“Oh my Celestia, yes!” Star cried, “I love dogs! Does he bite?” she asked, realizing just how big the dog was. He was just barely smaller than the average stallion.

“Oh Tartarus no!” Cobalt exclaimed. “He’s a hundred pound teddy bear. He might lick you though.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” she replied, her worry dissipating. She reached down and patted the large dog on the head. “Hey Knuckles, good to meet you.” The dog simply laid down next to Cobalt on the bench next to him.

“Sorry, he’s kinda lazy,” Cobalt said with a chuckle.

“It’s fine,” Star replied. “What do you want to do now?”

Cobalt was about to say something, but his stomach interrupted him. “I guess that kinda answers your question,” he said sheepishly, a small blush forming on his face.

“I guess it is about lunchtime,” Star Struck said. “How about I make us all some lunch?”

Cobalt was taken aback by this proposition. “Are you sure? As long as you're no Sweetie Belle, you're welcome to help, I guess. Usually, we just have Discord snap us something up, but no offense to him, it's. It quite the same as a home cooked meal."

"Hey," Discord yelled from the drivers seat, "My food is always hot and ready, don't you complain. Plus, I haven't seen you guys trying to cook anything."

"That's because we're pretty much terrible cooks, Discord. Think of this as just a little bit off your workload."

Star looked at Cobalt, a little confused. “Who’s Sweetie Belle?”

“Oh I forgot, you don’t know her yet,” Cobalt said with a chuckle. “A friend of mine has a younger sister named Sweetie Belle. One time, I had the displeasure to have a meal with her, all cooked by Sweetie Belle. Literally everything was burnt! She even managed somehow to burn juice!” Cobalt, Discord, and Star Struck all had a good laugh, all at the same time trying to figure out how somepony could burn juice. "Just don’t tell her I said anything. She’s still a filly, and I don’t want her feelings hurt.”

“Alright, I won’t.” Star Struck said. “And if that’s your definition of a ‘Sweetie Belle’, I am definitely not one. I’m a really good cook. Since my research isn’t really a well paying job, I’ve had to find other work, and I’ve worked in quite a few fine dining restaurants in Canterlot.”

“That’s cool.” Cobalt replied.

“So anyway,” Star said, “What does everypony around here eat? I’m mostly worried about what HE eats,” she remarked, pointing her hoof slightly at the draconequis in the driver’s seat.

“His diet is a little different than ours,” Cobalt said, “Considering he's.... How many animals are you, Discord?"

"I represent 9 animals,” Discord replied, “But I somehow got stuck with all of their appetites and taste preferences."

"Yeah, what he said," Cobalt said.

"And I also have all of their taste preferences, so I will be cooking for myself. Thank you for offering. Though I will great the ingredients you need."

“That sounds good, thank you Discord. Now then, what do the rest of you guys eat?” Star asked, now looking back at Cobalt.

"Well, we all have favorites,” Cobalt replied. “I prefer spicy Neighponese and Neighsian food. Noodles and stuff like that, sometimes sushi. Octavia over there likes more classical food, the simple elegant stuff like your find at a four or five star restaurant. Dandelion Steak, stuff like that. Six likes cafe and bar food. Hayburgers, grass fries, not all that fancy stuff like Tavi. Dumb Bell eats everything. You don't really need to make anything special for him, just make extra of everything else. He'll eat the leftovers.”

“Alright,” Star Struck said, internally memorizing everything Cobalt had just said. “That’ll be easy.”

“If you say so. Just tell me if you don’t want to cook any more. It can be a tough job, cooking for all of us.”

“It’s fine, and I want to help you guys out. Like I said, I don’t want to be a freeloader.”

“You’re not a freeloader, I invited you to come along. If anything, I should be cooking for you.”

“It’s fine. Discord, can you summon me up some ingredients?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Well,” Star said, raising a hoof thoughtfully to her chin. “I’m gonna need some daisies, some hay, noodles and some spices, some apples and other fruits, and oooh!" she clapped her hooves togehter, “Lots of whip cream and sugar!”

"Whipped cream and sugar? If you say so, you're the chef. You get all that, Dissy?"

"Don't call me that! But yeah, I heard her. Here ya go, Star," he said with a snap of his claw, and all the ingredients Star Struck could have asked for and more appeared on the counter near the stove and refrigerator, opposite the table the two were sitting at.

“Thanks, Discord,” Star said, setting to work. She first chopped up the fruits and put them in cups. She then turned on the stove and fried the noodles, all the while adding some spices to the mix, along with a bit of the daisies. She then took what remianed of the daisies and mixed them with some of the leftover fruit. She continued to cook like this for a while. In no less than half an hour, the food was done, and she began to set plates. She looked over at Cobalt with an accomplished look on her face. “I hope everypony’s hungry."

“I know I am,” called Six String from the back of the bus as he made his way to the table, obviously just having got out of bed.

“It's afternoon, Six," Octavia replied, closing the door to the practice room.

"Figures food would be the only thing able to get you out of bed," Dumb Bell said with a snicker, at which everypony but Six String broke out laughing.

"Hold on everypony, I'll be right back," Cobalt said as he went up to Discord and whispered something in his ear. The draconequis visibly held back a snicker. When he returned, he was greeted by a few curious glances, but nopony thought anything of it.

“Oh crap,” Cobalt said, “I forgot to feed Knuckles. Discord, would you mind snapping up a bowl of food for him?”

“Sure,” replied the god of chaos. And with a snap of his fingers, a very large bowl of food appeared beside the half asleep dog, who quickly jumped up and started to eat.

“Cool,” said Cobalt. “Alright, Star, what have we got to eat today?”

“Let’s see... The hay noodles with the daisy stir fry for Cobalt. For Octavia I made apple, orange, and daisy sampler drizzled with my famous sugar sauce. I made a delicious fruit salad with a bit of sugar added as well, just for fun. And finally, for dessert, my special fruit cups!" she said pointing at the cups of fruit, topped with whip cream and the same sugar sauce. "I hope everypony enjoys,” she said with a bright smile.

“Which ones Six's?" Cobalt asked, as Discords ears perked up a little bit.

She blinked and hit her head with a hoof "Oops, I knew I forgot something... Well, the salad and the fruit cups are enough for everpony... I’m sorry Six."

Six was actually visibly aggitated, and was grinding his teeth together.

"Six, stop. Hold your temper. You know how you get when you're angry," Cobalt pleaded.

Cobalts pleas fell on ears of stone, however, and despite his best efforts to hold his temper, Six snapped and stomped his hoof on the floor multiple time, each harder than the last. However, he immediately stopped when he saw he was actually really scaring Star Struck's. She had already backed away a good distance, and was on the verge of tears.

Seeing that Six really scared Star, Cobalt walked over to Discord again, this time a visibly angry, and whispered something else into his ear. Discord simply nodded his head in reply.

After returning to the table, and after a moment of awkward silence, Six String finally spoke. "I'm sorry I scared you Star, and it’s ok about the food," he said, with genuine caring in his voice. He then looked over at the draconequis in the driver’s seat and said, "Discord, would you mind snapping up the usual for me?" The god of chaos merely snapped his claw, and a plate of grass fries with a hayburger popped onto the table.

"Sorry for Six," Cobalt said to the still sniffing Star Struck, pulling her into a gentle hug. "He can be kinda hot-headed at times. And he's a real plothole when it comes to food." He then walked her back over to the table and sat her down in the seat right next to him.

Everyone then started eat, and for some reason Cobalt kept glancing at Six every few moments. After about ten minutes of eating, a deafening cry was heard from across the table from Six, who had about ten spiders crawling all over him that had come from his plate. He immediately jumped from his seat, screaming, "GET THEM OFF OF ME!" over and over again as he ran around the bus in an attempt to rid himself of the spiders. Everypony else was just doubled over laughing.

"Serves you right for not getting up when everypony else does, and doubly so for hurting Star’s feelings. Originally, I just asked Discord to put one spider in your food for not waking up. But when you hurt Star, I told him to make it ten to teach you a lesson."

"Whatever! I'm sorry, just make them go away, PLEASE!!!!!"

"Fine, you heard him Discord, make the little spiders go away." Discord snapped his claw, making all of the little spiders vanish, only to be replaced by a pony sized spider that instantly made Six's entire body go pale. Even his mane. The huge spider then proceeded to chase Six around the bus, while the rest of the ponies and even Discord erupted with laughter that never seemed to end.

"Alright, Discord,” Cobalt said, gasping for air, “We've had our little revenge, now make the spider go away please." And with a snap of his claw, the spider was gone, leaving Six clutching his chest from the near heart attack he just had, the color slowly returning to his face. He then shot a look at Cobalt that would have made a lesser ponies blood turn to ice.

"I promise Six, no spiders for the rest of the week," he said, his laughter only just beginning to die down.

"A WEEK?!?!? You had better make it the rest of the tour!" Six wheezed back.

"Don't make me put one in your precious bed, Six." That shut him up. "Now then," Cobalt said as he clapped his hooves together, "Let's get back to eating!"

"I'm not hungry anymore," Six said, "I'm tired, so I'm gonna go back to bed. There better not be any spiders in there, or I'm quitting the band!" he screamed at nopony in particular.

"That's Six for you," Cobalt said to Star.

Star looked up at Cobalt, away from the food she was playing with on her plate. “I feel bad for forgetting. But thanks for standing up for me," she said looking down at her food, a blush spreading across her face. "I’ll make it up to him next time I cook. How is everpony enjoying the food?”

"Anything for a friend, plus, Six is a hot headed idiot all the time, so don't worry about making it up to him. I'm not going to let anypony treat my friends like that. And the food's great! What do you guys think?" Cobalt asked his remaining bandmates.

"The food's great, Star!" Dumb Bell said, mouth full of fruit from the salad.

"It's marvelous, Star Struck," Octavia said, looking up from the dish Star had prepared for her. "Do you cook for a living?"

“Thanks. And yes and no. My main profession is an astronomer, but since that job doesn’t pay quite enough, I have another job at any given time. I’ve just worked in a few restaurants is all.”

“I see,” Octavia replied.

Star Struck smiled. “So, our next stop is Ponyville?”

“Yeah, our next stop on the tour is in Ponyville,” Cobalt said. “I might have a few friends for you to meet as well, two especially that I think you might already know.”

She looked at Cobalt confusedly. “I don’t know anyone from Ponyville...”

"They went to school with us way back in the day too. Well, I’m sure at least one of them did. But that's all I'm saying until we get there and you meet them again for yourself. Anyway, why don't we all take a nap while we wait to get to Ponyville? I need to show Star Struck where the beds are anyway." All heads at the table nodded in agreement. "Discord, can you wake us up about half an hour before we get to Ponyville?”

“Sure,” the draconequis said.

“Alright Star, follow me." Cobalt then led Star to the very back of the bus, where there were 3 very large sets of full sized bunk beds, each containing 2 beds. "Here, Ink," he said, pointing to the bunk on top against the back wall of the bus, " You can have the bed above mine. That way, you'll be the farthest away from Dumb Bell, who's bunk is under Six's." he said, pointing to the right wall of the bus, where Six was sound asleep on the top bunk and Dumb Bell climbing onto the bottom bunk, sleepy and ready to take his nap.

“Thanks, Cobalt.”

“Just another way to keep you out of the path of his hard head,” Cobalt said with a smile as he climbed into his bed.

Star Struck smiled as she climbed into her bunk, and quickly fell asleep.
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Alright everypony, here’s chapter 3.
Once again, thanks go to Ink Heart for idea development.
Thanks for reading!
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